The last few verses of the book
of Revelation, and I've titled the lesson, This Book. Let's
just read these verses first of all. Verse 18. The Apostle
John, as he is given revelation by Christ, he says, for I testify
unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this
book. Now, people sometimes debate,
argue over things that I believe are pretty useless. And sometimes
it just comes down to a debate over words, you know. You hear
a certain word and you have something, a connotation in your mind that
you can't dissociate with that word. I often talk about, you
know, arguments over the law, you know. Somebody says, are
we under the law? And, well, we're not under the
old covenant law. If we're believers, we're new
covenant Christians. But does that mean we don't have
any law? And somebody says, well, we're not under any laws, but
we're under the commandments. Well, what's the difference between
a law and a commandment? I mean, if you want to make a
big deal out of that, that's up to you. But I'll tell you
this much. When the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to do something
or not do something, he's not making suggestions. That has
the force of law to me, you know. He's telling us to do this. Not
to be saved, that's against the law. Do you know a sinner who
seeks salvation by their law keeping, they're actually working
against the law. Because the law basically can
summarize it in two commands. I know we talk about love God
and love our neighbor. That's what the Lord said. But
basically you can filter it down to this. Here's what the law
says. Do and live, disobey and die. That's it. And the doing
there is perfect righteousness. But we don't have that and we
can't do that. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That means there's none righteous, no not
one. That's why salvation's by grace. That's why we look to
Christ. Well, I said all that to say
this. When we talk about this book, you know, John obviously
has in mind the book of Revelation, and he's talking about the end
times, and he says in Revelation, he said, the prophecy of this
book, and prophecy does not confine itself to the future, But it's
just forth telling the word of God. Sometimes that involves
the future and much of Revelation does. But he says in verse 18,
he says, if any man shall add unto these things. Now this is
the word of God. This is not the word of man.
He says, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book. That's the book of Revelation. And he says in
verse 19, and if any man shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, the book of Revelation, God shall take
away his part out of or from the tree of life, the book of
life and out of the holy city and from the things which are
written in this book. So there's the bottom line. Now, John, as I said, he's talking
about the book of Revelation. And I think about this too. You
go into these religious bookstores. And you see all these books written
about prophecy in the end times. That's exactly what people are
doing today. They're adding to, trying to add to the prophecies
of this book. And it doesn't make any sense.
It's not biblical. I'm not just up here to be critical.
I'm just telling you the truth. They're either taking away or
adding to the prophecy of this book. We have everything we need
right here. The same principle applies to
the whole book of God from Genesis to Revelation. This is God's
Word. And I don't have any authority
to add my opinions to any of God's Word, let alone the book
of Revelation. I may have some thoughts, and
those thoughts may be okay as long as they don't negate or
deny or confuse the basic message of Revelation or of the whole
Bible. Certainly any thought or idea
or opinion I have that would challenge the gospel of how God
saves sinners by his grace through Jesus Christ, you know that brings
a curse. So this book, let's talk about
the whole Bible. And we'll talk about Revelation
too. Because like I said, that's what John had in mind. But Revelation,
the book of Revelation, shows us the way of salvation, just
like the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Matthew, Mark, and
Luke, and John. How does God save sinners? Well,
he saves sinners by his free and sovereign grace through the
blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
in the book of Revelation, isn't it? And if you add to that, or
you add man's works, or man's decisions, or man's will, or
man's efforts to that, what does that reveal about you? That reveals
you don't believe the gospel. You're adding to the words of
this book, not only just things about prophecy, but things about
the gospel. The Bible talks about worthiness,
for example, in Revelation chapter five. You know, next week we're
gonna be taking the Lord's Supper. And I was taught coming up in
religion that I thought was Christianity, but was not. I was taught basically,
I had the idea. Now, this is natural to fallen
man, but it's also promoted by false Christianity that I have
to do something to make myself worthy to take the Lord's Supper.
And you know that verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 where it talks about
he that eats and drinks unworthily, all right? Well, what is it to
eat and drink unworthily? He said it, not discerning the
Lord's body. Not understanding who Christ
is and what he accomplished. That's what that means. What's
the Lord's Supper all about? It's about the blood and the
righteousness of Christ. This is my blood, this is my
body which was broken. It's talking about the finished
work of Christ. It's not talking about that this week I've been
so good, now I'm worthy to take the Lord's Supper. What is our worthiness? Well,
if you read Revelation chapter five, what does it say about
our worthiness? Anybody know? Revelation five. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. That's what the Lord's Supper's
all about, isn't it? Worthy is the lamb that was slain. In other
words, the Lord's Supper or anything in the Christian life, it's not
about my worthiness based upon my efforts, it's based upon Christ's
worthiness and what he accomplished for me. So there, don't add to
that. That's the book of Revelation.
That's the whole Bible in every aspect. And you could go on through,
you know, it talks about all of the symbols of Numbers of,
like the two women of Revelation, when you think about the two
women of Revelation, who do you think of? You think of Babylon,
the great, the wicked, the harlot. And then you think about the
unnamed woman, which is the church in the book of Revelation. What
is he talking about? He's talking about the redeemed
of the Lord, chosen of God before the foundation of the world,
given to Christ, who he accomplished all of salvation on Calvary's
cross in his death, burial, and resurrection, and opposition
to false religion, false Christianity, which is a disguise that the
world has. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ
when he was talking about the end times, Matthew 24, Mark 13,
and I think Luke 17, The first thing that he warned
about as a sign of the times was false Christianity. He said,
they'll come saying, here's the Messiah, there's the Messiah.
He said, some of them will be so close that if it were possible,
they could deceive the very elect. So what are we to do? Well, we
get into the words of this prophecy. And we don't add to them, we
don't take away from them. This is the book of Christ. This
is the book that shows the one and only way of salvation, of
forgiveness, of righteousness, of eternal life and glory by
God's free and sovereign grace through Christ. This book identifies
and distinguishes Christ in his person and in his finished work. It reveals what he accomplished
in his obedience unto death as the surety and the substitute
of his people. It shows our depravity. The book
of Revelation is full of that, the sinfulness of man. It shows
our depravity, the fact that we have no righteousness naturally,
the fact that we cannot work one by our best, and the fact
that we don't want one God's way unless God intervenes. That's depravity, right there.
This book is a revelation of God to men. And there are many
things that God's not revealed. They're things that God has kept
secret to himself. We're not held accountable for
that, but the things that he's revealed, that's what John's
talking about here. If any man shall add unto these
things, what things? These things God has revealed.
These things God has exposed. and the things and the plagues
that are written in this book you know a lot of these plagues
that we saw in the in the different uh... breaking of the seals and
the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments you can trace
them back to uh... historically to the plagues of
Egypt and you see the spiritual application even to today and
how it works well that's what it what's he talking about he's
talking about the wrath of God upon those who are not in Christ. Look over at John chapter 3.
John chapter 3. Look at verse 18 of John chapter
3. The Lord speaking to Nicodemus, a
lost religious Jew. And he says in John 3.18, he
says, he that believeth on him is not condemned. If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as he is identified and distinguished
in God's word, what does that give evidence? That you're not
condemned. Why is that? Well, because Christ
took your condemnation on the cross as your surety and your
substitute. But he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. His name identifies him and distinguishes
him. His name is not just a label.
You remember back in the 70s they had that organization called,
they called it PTL. Remember what that stood for?
Praise the Lord. Well my friend, believing And
salvation is not just saying words. It's not some four-point
formula that you walk down an aisle and we say, well, repeat
after me. That's not salvation. That's
not in the Bible. And people get upset when I say
things like it, but okay, don't get upset. Show me where it is
in the Bible. Show me where it is in the book
of Revelation. It's not there. You say, well, you're just trying
to dot every I and cross every T. Well, I'm trying to study
the Word of God. And, you know, I don't want to
warp your universe or anything like that. Well, maybe I do want
to warp it. You know, that's what happens when God saves a
sinner and he warps his universe. He turns our world upside down,
doesn't he? But if it's not in the Bible,
Then why would you depend on it? See? Well, look on here. He says in verse 19, he says,
this is the condemnation that light is come into the world.
Now that light is Christ and the gospel that identifies him
and distinguishes him. And we've seen it all through
the book of Revelation. And he says, and men love darkness
rather than light. Now who would love darkness rather
than light? You know, people, they don't
think they love darkness and hate the light, but here's what,
read on, he says, because their deeds are evil. Now, when you
see that word deeds, what do you think of? Their deeds are
evil. Oh, surely he's talking about
the drunks and the drug, who's he talking to here? Well, he's talking specifically
to Nicodemus, a religious man. who probably wouldn't touch a
drop of alcohol. And you're right, it's everyone.
It's everyone. Even man in his religious efforts,
his deeds are evil. You remember Matthew 7? 21 through
24? Lord, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we prophesied? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? And he said, depart from me,
you that work what? Iniquity. Now what was iniquitous
about what they were doing? Preachers will tell you, well,
they just weren't sincere. That's not what that passage
teaches. And in fact, if that were the
case, are you sincere? And is that what you expect God
to bless you and save you and accept you on? And let me ask
you this, if you believe God is going to receive you based
upon your sincerity, how can you know you're sincere enough?
Where in the Bible do you find the standard of sincerity by
which you must measure up? And are there any times in your
life, any nanoseconds that you're not sincere? You see what I'm
saying? You know what that's teaching?
Matthew said that the reason he called their works, their
deeds, iniquity, because they do not measure up to righteousness. Does anything we do measure up
to perfect righteousness as measured by Christ? You say, oh, I just
love the Lord. Well, I can say that too, but
I do not expect God to save me or bless me based on my love
to him. I expect him to save me and bless
me based upon his love to me, hearing his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation,
the sin bearing sacrifice who brought satisfaction for our
sins. God's gonna judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained and that he
hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath raised him
from the dead. Look at John 3 20. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light. That's talking about religious
people too. Paul talked about his kinsmen
according to the flesh in Romans 10. He said they're sincere and
zealous. But not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. What is the righteousness of God? Romans 10, 4. For Christ
is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the completion,
the perfection of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe it. So they hate the light because it exposes what
they're so proud of as being unacceptable, even wicked in
the sight of God, like Cain. He brought the best of the field,
the best of the works of his hands, and God didn't accept
it. What did Abel bring? The blood
of the Lamb, which pictured Christ. So he says, they neither come
to the light lest his deeds should be reproved, that is, exposed. Verse 21, but he that doeth truth,
that's believing Christ, cometh to the light, that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God, they're the
work of God. Look over at verse 36 of John
3. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. What is the
wrath of God? I tell you, if you want to define
the wrath of God, where you ought to go. Go to the cross. That's the wrath of God. Somebody
gets sick and they say, oh, the wrath of God is upon me. No. You know, even believers get
sick. Did you know that? You see these people who go around
calling themselves Christians, saying that they are sinlessly
perfect in themselves. Why do they still get sick and
grow old? Why do they die? If you're sinlessly perfect in
yourself, you won't have the problems I have or the rest of
us have. Well, do we have a sinless perfection? Yes, in Christ and in Him alone,
but not in me, not in you. So the wrath of God is God's
wrath upon all those who are found without Christ. Go back to Revelation 22. And
that's the plagues that are written in this book. They are manifestations
of God's wrath upon the unsaved, those who are not washed in the
blood of Christ, those who are not clothed in his righteousness
imputed. And then in verse 19, he says,
if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy. We don't have any right to take
anything out of this book, Revelation or any other part of God's word. We don't have that. Some try
to preach the Bible by leaving certain truths out because they're
offensive. Offensive to the natural man.
And so they want to leave it out. Yeah, that's one of the,
yeah, Leonard said Romans 9. That's exactly. You know why
most preachers won't preach Romans 9? It's not because they don't
understand it, it's because they don't like it. what it says. It's not hard to understand what
Romans 9 says. But boy, I'll tell you what,
it's impossible for the natural man to believe it and swallow
it. He just don't want it. That's the problem. I've told
you the story about Mark Twain how many times. When Mark Twain,
he was an atheist, and a reporter asked him about what he thought
about the Bible, and Twain said, well, it's a pretty good book.
It's got some good things in it. And he said, the reporter
said, but you know, he said, there's so many things in it
that I don't understand. And Twain said, well, you're
right. He said, but that's not the parts that bother me. It's
the parts that I do understand that bother me. And that's the
way it is with the natural man. So we don't have any authority
to do that. Somebody, you know, I've heard
stories about people, preachers preaching through Romans and
they skip over Romans 9. Where do you get the authority
to do that? Not from God. So he says, now look at this
in verse 19. He says, God shall take away
his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and
from the things which are written in this book. The book of life
is the Lamb's book of life. It's spoken of in Revelation
13, where it talks about those whose names are not written in
the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world.
And that's talking about something that people don't want to hear
today. That's talking about, you know, that God has chosen
a people and written their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. You
know, people argue, is that a literal book or not? I don't think so,
but that's a way of metaphorically, symbolically talking about God's
unlimited mind to know his people whom he chose and gave to Christ.
I heard a preacher on TV talking about that, and here's what he
said. And he was talking about the Book of Life, the Lamb's
Book of Life. And his first three words exposed him. When he was
talking about the Lamb's Book of Life, he said this. He said,
we can speculate. No, we can't. We can try to do
that, but it's wrong. You see, whatever this book says,
it's not based upon my speculation. But here's what he said. He said,
we can speculate. that when you're born, God writes
your name in that book. And when you commit your first
sin, whenever that is, He erases your name out of that book. And
then later on, if you ever accept Jesus as your personal Savior,
He writes your name back in. Now let me ask you a question
about that. Where do you find that in the Bible? I don't have
to speculate about that because God's made it clear. God's not up there writing names
down and erasing them out and writing them back. And I guess
if you're a some denomination today, he'd be erasing and writing
them out and erasing and writing them out all the time. And I don't know, maybe even
the rededication, maybe he erases it out and writes it, I don't
know. But that's crazy stuff. He's not saying here that a person
is saved and then lost later on. at all. He's just simply
saying, and a lot of times these things get kind of confused or
lost in translation, but what this simply means is this. A
person who does not believe the words of this book, does not
believe Christ and God's way of salvation, has no part in
the Book of Life or in the Holy City. What's the Holy City? Well,
he described the Holy City over in Revelation 21. That's the
citizenship of God's nation. That's the New Jerusalem. And
it's not talking about Palestine. It's not talking about Israel
over there today. It's talking about the new heavenly
Jerusalem that he described in Revelation 21. I won't go back
to that. I'm gonna talk about that in
the message in 11 o'clock out of Hebrews chapter 11, where
it talks about these Old Testament saints who were looking for a
heavenly city, not built by man, but built by God. They weren't
looking for a real estate on earth. What they were looking for was
the promise of God to glorify them through the blood of Christ. And so, that's what the Holy
City is. Holy meaning separated, meaning
sanctified. And he says, and from the things
which are written in this book in verse 19. In other words,
the blessings that belong to the children of God that are
stated out in the book of Revelation. And again, you can apply it to
the whole Bible. You don't have any part in these
blessings without Christ, without faith in Him. Now, you may experience
what we call some good things in this life. You may play the
stock market and just be a winner. But if you don't have Christ
in the ultimate end of things, what you're going to find out
is those things which you thought were a blessing is going to end
up being a curse. Think about Luke chapter 12 about
the rich man who built, you know, who accumulated all these things,
filled up his barns. He said, what am I going to do
now? Well, I'll build bigger barns because I got to have a place
to put my stuff. That's what we got, what we gotta
have. We gotta have more places to put our stuff, because we
got more stuff, and we're gonna get more stuff as we get older,
and all of that. But it was a curse. He said,
thou fool, this night your soul shall be required of you. Well, look at verse 20. He says,
he which testified these things saith, surely I come quickly,
amen, even so come Lord Jesus. That is a statement Closing out
the whole of the Bible. Somebody told me one time that
the order of the scriptures is not God-ordained. Are you crazy? It sure is. Why is Genesis where
it is? Why is Malachi where it is? Why
is Matthew? You know, the book of Romans
in time was not the first epistle written, but it's the first one
appears in the New Testament. Why? Because it's kind of like
an annotated Bible. Every doctrine of Christianity
is kind of summarized or encapsulated in the book of Romans. And God put it there by his good
providence. I believe that. So, and he used
some unsavory men a lot of times to do it. You know the old saying of Joseph,
you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Wow. We're going
to be talking about that in our Wednesday night studies on Romans
9 through 11. You thought that was just a New
Testament doctrine, didn't you? No, it wasn't. It's an Old Testament. It's a truth from eternity. This is a statement, to close
out the Bible, that emphasizes the certainty, the surety of
the success and victory of the Lord Jesus Christ as it pertains
to his second coming. He says, surely I come quickly.
Now John wrote this almost 2,000 years ago. Most people believe that the
book of Revelation was written somewhere around A.D. 90 or something
like that, A.D. 90 to give or take a few years. And Christ has not yet come,
but it's still quickly in God's eyes. Because a thousand years
is as a day, and a day is a thousand. You see, God doesn't measure
time the way we do. We think, oh, he's delaying,
oh, what, you know. I'm amazed, somebody says, I'm
amazed that God hadn't already come and just brought his wrath
down upon this world. What we ought to be saying is,
God, thy will be done. And thank God that his wrath
won't come down on me because of Christ. It's quickly. It's soon. And then he closes
out, verse 21. Here's the thing, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. Is there anything
that we can claim by way of salvation, by way of a right relationship
with God, by way of blessing, by way of forgiveness, justification,
sanctification, ultimate glory, is there any of that that we
can claim apart from grace? And the answer is no. It's all
of grace. In other words, here's what I'm
saying. Anything that I have from God that's good and acceptable,
a blessing to me, saving to me, I didn't earn it and I don't
deserve it. It's all of His grace in Christ and based upon His
blood and righteousness alone.